Federal and state governments have been advised to harmonise the education and agriculture sectors with a holistic view to fighting food scarcity in the country.
This was suggested at the Babajide Oguntokun Back to School Agricultural Summit, an annual event organised by JCI Odua, which held at the weekend at the Methodist High School, Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
The event, with the theme, ‘Participation in Agribusiness Solution for Economic Sustainable Opportunity’, had in attendance students and teachers of agricultural science across schools in Ibadan and a government representative.
Addressing newsmen, the president, Junior Chamber International (JCI) Odua, Ambassador Adedeji Adeleye, called on government at all levels to give attention to the education and agriculture sectors, with a view to harmonizing them to combat food insecurity.
“My advice for the government is that it will be of best interest to key into agriculture and education. When a lot of young ones are educated, the rate of crimes in the country will reduce. And then, when the agricultural sector of the country is excellent, people will not go about causing crime or doing illegal things; as it is known that an hungry man is an angry man,” he said.
While applauding the turnout of the participants, he explained that the summit was organised with a target to bring secondary school students together, in a bid to bridge to gap of food insufficiency in the country.
“We are doing this basically for the young ones in order to ‘catch them young’ by building interest in them concerning the agricultural sector in the country, as we have discovered that the only solution to the problem in Nigeria is food. An hungry man is an angry man. And then, in our projects, we also noticed that there a few people in agriculture and they are not skilled enough in the business. So, we decided to go to schools, catch them from the grassroots and teach them how they can go about agriculture, its produce and outputs to improve livelihoods,” he said.
The chairperson, Grace Akande, in her address, described agriculture as an occupation that embraces all industries and one that is vital in attaining self-empowerment.
According to Akande, “Agriculture was the first occupation of man, and as it embraces the whole earth, it is the foundation of all other industries —E. W. STEWART
“At JCI Odua , we firmly believe in the significance of individual Empowerment as a key to self-awareness, self-esteem and skills enhancement. Through this project, we aspire to enlighten and sensitise each participant on diversification of economy to agriculture sector from crude oil.”
A participant, Oluwafisayomi Benjamin, a student of Ajibode Grammar School, expressed delight in the programme and, therefore, promised to engage her school principal on the need to have a school farm, where students will practically engage in agriculture.
Another participant, Oluwasijibomi Ojo, a student of Methodist High School, Toll Gate, vowed to introduce the agricultural skills he has been introduced to, at the workshop to his peers and colleagues in school.